Inside the Braves with MLB.com's Mark Bowman

Murphy arrives; updates on Jurrjens and Proctor

Dale Murphy has arrived in camp and had the opportunity to reunite with his former teammates Gene Garber and Glenn Hubbard. If not for the grey hair and creaky knees, there might be some who could draw memories from 1978, when each of these guys were part of the group that Bobby Cox assembled during his first Spring Training as a big league manager.

Of course you might also want to ignore the chilly conditions that arrived in the Disney area during the late-morning hours. My guess is that West Palm Beach seldom felt as wintry as these conditions, which greeted the cast of backups that the Mets brought north for this afternoon’s game.

For the second straight day, the Braves pitchers will be facing a lineup that doesn’t include Jeff Francoeur, whose former No. 7 Braves jersey is now being worn by non-roster invitee Joe Thurston.

As for the Braves, their lineup once again includes Jason Heyward, who has been moved down to the fifth spot of the lineup to account for the additions of Chipper Jones and Troy Glaus, who didn’t play during Tuesday’s Grapefruit League season opener.

Bullpen sessions: Jair Jurrjens made another step in the right direction with a mound session that consisted of approximately 30 pitches this morning. The 24-year-old right-hander mixed fastballs and changeups during this session that was described as “pain-free” by Braves pitching coach Roger McDowell.

“He had no problems,” McDowell said. “Everything went well.”

If Jurrjens feels good tomorrow, he’ll be scheduled to complete a longer bullpen session on Friday. While optimistic about the progress, McDowell still isn’t willing to place a particular timetable on his young right-hander, who reported to camp dealing with some discomfort caused by inflammation in his right shoulder.

But if Jurrjens continues on his current path, there’s certainly reason to believe he could make his first Grapefruit League start some time during the latter portion of next week.

McDowell also reported that Scott Proctor looked strong during his 40-pitch bullpen session this morning. The veteran right-handed reliever, who is returning from Tommy John surgery, will begin throwing live batting practice on Friday.

It still seems optimistic to believe Proctor could break camp as a member of the Atlanta bullpen. But the 32-year-old right-hander remains encouraged about the progress that has allowed him to reach a point where he is throwing with what he deems 90 percent of his effort. <p>

“I keep taking steps in the right direction, not moving in the wrong direction, thank goodness,” Proctor said. “I’m feeling really, really good. I’m looking forward to at least getting a hitter in the box.”

In response to a comment from an earlier entry, I want to thank you for providing me this opportunity to prove that I could prove capable of providing you an update that hopefully proved worthy of your expectations.

Heyward swung through the first pitch and then drew four straight balls. That’s 3 BBs a single in his first 4 PAs of the spring. He also would have made Meadowlark Lemon proud in the second inning, when he slipped on a Fernando Tatis flyball and then while still on the ground reached out to make the catch.

Hudson proved very economical during his two scoreless innings. 15 pitches and 10 strikes. Surrendered a second-inning single and then ended his outing with a double play grounder off the bat of Rod Barajas, who has since been challenged to race Bobby Dews after this game concludes.

I’m starting to get the sense that those eight homers that Casey Kotchman provided in 130 games are going to stand as the lone return the Braves get in exchange for Teixeira.

OK. Truth be told, I think many of us have had this sense for a while. But actually watching Marek get battered around in this sixth inning certainly provided the reminder that he doesn’t seem to have a future at the big league level. The only two outs he recorded came courtesy of a DP grounder.

That was not a very good trade to be sure. Marek seems to be the odds on favorite to be giving up a 40 man roster spot to Mr. Heyward in a couple weeks. He didn’t look very impressive at Gwinnett either last season. He’s the anti-Medlen, whereas Kris is EITHER a starter OR a reliever, Marek is NEITHER a starter NOR a reliever.

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